Our first stop on this journey was in a place called Annapolis where we stopped at the United States Naval Academy. Those of us who had booked went on a tour of the facilities where we saw where the cadets trained and lived. The regime is so harsh, they get hardly any time off, have to do so much work, I wasn’t sure whether to admire them or think they were crazy. Our tour guide was very very boring and talked a lot. Not great since we were all a bit worse for wear and it was super hot (as usual on this trip). On a plus point we stumbled across all the cadets marching to class in their little white uniforms. Sailor boys <3.
How excited were we when we saw this???
We rebussed after the tour and headed onwards to the city or Philadelphia, home of Rocky, the liberty bell and philly cheese steak sandwiches. Our first stop was the Rocky ‘steps’ at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. No, I did not run up them, but I did walk up very fast (there are a lot of them!). There is also a statue of rocky outside the museum which you could take a picture with.
Whilst in Philly I passed on trying the infamous cheese steak and instead hit up the Liberty Bell (it’s a bit bell . . .) and saw Liberty Hall. Quite nice to see some real American History, especially after visiting Washington.
De de de de de de de de de de . . .
So onwards it was to NYC. We arrived late afternoon and got dropped off at the Contiki hotel and it was a bit of an anti-climax as we just kind of dispersed. There were plans to meet later thankfully. I headed off to my hotel, the Pod Hotel. It was about 10 blocks away so I got a cab. Check in was super quick and easy and it was a great hotel, such a good location. I did however start to feel lonely. After a month of having a roomy and constant companionship I was alone. Hard to get used to :(
That night I decided to walk to the bar to meet the others (concierge – 15 minutes walk, actually 40 minutes walk!) and happily lots of people had made the effort so we got a chance to say goodbye. My ex-roomy Erin was there and upon hearing how bad her hostel was, convinced her to take the extra bed in my room, I was no longer alone! I then directed a bunch of us to Times Square (since I went to NYC a bazillion time with Virgin) and saw the lights etc. We also checked out BB Kings, which was dead and no where near as fun as in Memphis. I then headed back for an early-ish night and arranged to meet Naomi the next day to sightsee!
NYC's finest (and me looking tres rough)
Day 2 of NYC Naomi and I decided to see lady liberty first. I had previously been over there but was more than happy to go back! We went down to battery park and with our tickets followed to massive queue, took 5 mins just to get to the end of it :( In the queue we saw Mark and his sister Vicky so we cheekily pushed in. Still was going to be a long wait. As luck would have it, a worker saw a couple of the guys had NYC City Passes which gives you a q jump. Mark and I didn’t but he said it would be okay, so what would have been a 2 hour wait became a 20 minute one. Happy days! We boarded Miss Liberty and headed to Liberty Island, got some photos with the lady and souvenired a little and then got back on the ferry and checked out Ellis Island, the place where thousands of immigrants first set foot on American soil. You can practically taste the history.
Post lady Liberty we did an emergency clothes shop ( 4 weeks in same clothes = bad) and visited Macys, Tiffanys and build a bear workshop where I treated myself (watch, necklace, statue of liberty bear!).
Last ever group shot at the top of the Empire State
The next day, Naomi wasn’t feeling great so we took it easy. We visited Wall St, the ground zero area, Century 21 and China Town. We then went to the TKTS booth at Times Square and waited in a ridiculous queue. We made a short list of shows and when we got to the booth plumed for Billy Elliot based on cost and what we hadn’t seen. Still cost $70 each for restricted views, Broadway is expensive!!!
After a chill out at the hotel (much needed!) we med at the theatre and had fun watching Americans try and do Geordie accents, with varying degrees of success! It was pretty amazing though and we were only about 7 rows from the front, only couldn’t see a foot or so of the stage on the left hand side, well worth it it seems! Afterwards we headed back to Times Square (AGAIN!) and had some famous NYC cheesecake at Roxy Delicatessan, yummy but HUGE uneatable slices. With that, my last night in the states came to a close
The next day, I did some last minute shopping and met Naomi for Lunch at Olive Garden and finally got myself a paper hat at Hershey World (the best freebie ever!). I then said a sad goodbye to Naomi, who had been my constant companion that past month. I am reasonably confident we will meet again soon (private joke ‘Omi!).
My trip ended with a long journey to Newark airport, a thankfully decent flight back to LHR (and nice people sitting next to me!) and a hop up to Newcastle – and funnily enough Erin was on my BA flight to NCL.
So that is it. Over. Kaput. Finale. Or is it?? Come on, this is me!! Miss Itchy Feet herself. I’m off to Austria at Christmas and will be hopefully touring Europe next year. So this blog will continue and I hope you will continue to read.
As always, I am seeking a life less ordinary.
Love, Jill xxx
